In the flavor industry, there is still a great demand for substances which impart an of-factory impression to foods and drinks such as results in the thermal treatment during boiling, baking, and roasting of foods. The resultant aromatizing compounds exhibit especially roasted notes. However, these compounds in particular have been scarcely alable. In addition to the flavor, which is larely actually perceived retronasally as an odor, the orthonasally perceived odor currently plays an important role. Therefore, flavor compounds are also of importance which impart a correspondingly strong and typical odor to a food or drink.
The most important reaction which proceeds in the thermal treatment of foods is the reaction between reducing, sugars and amino acids which is called the Maillard reaction. During this Maillard reaction, flavorings of the heterocycle class of chemical substances are formed. These compounds contain one or more heteroatoms, various side chains and are aromatic or partially hydrogenated (P. A. Finot, H. U. Aeschbacher, R. F. Hurrell, R. Liardon, The Maillard Reaction in Food Processing, Human Nutrition and Physiology, Birkhauser Verlag, Basle, 1990).